Certainly it's lovely to see early work here not only by Firth and Branagh, but several other now familiar faces. And the general set-up is engaging enough, with the old church and the small community. But it's not in the least clear how this is resolving what are presumably underlying issues from the war (and which themselves rarely come out beyond some predictable PTSD reactions). The hint of a romance between Richardson's character and Firth's is as faint as it is predictable. The more open conflict that appears early on and again later doesn't really go anywhere. Very intriguing elements, especially towards the end, are never really given their full value. And I don't get the significance of one character introduced at the last minute. In the end, even having read some summaries of the film itself and the underlying novel, I simply don't know what happened, beyond the outward and ultimately not very edifying facts.
Review of A Month in the Country
